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From Bad to Great: The Year in the Life of One Lawn
One of our Field Service Professionals, Derek J. Gambro, who works in our Wauconda, IL lawn care office , took it upon himself to document the improvements he was able to achieve with a lawn in his territory over the past year. What is the most amazing aspect of this sequence of pictures is how the lawn improved, even during the drought and heat we experienced this past summer. They also show how well the lawn responded once rain returned during the fall. The sequence is illustrated in the gallery above. Lawn Care Application #1 The first application was made on April 21. You can see the number of weeds throughout the lawn and the thin, weak looking grass.
Fall Yard Clean-Up Work
It is the time of year to put your gardens to bed for the winter, unless you live in the areas of the country that are not affected by frost and freezing temperatures. Almost all of my annuals have died due to some cold nights and heavy frosts. As is the case with Mother Nature, one day it can be 70 degrees and the next it is in the 40's. Being in the Midwest, you sometimes can wake up to a little snow on the ground in the morning.As you can see from this picture, I have cut back most of the perennial plants, including my roses. I have a problem with Black Spot on my roses and I do my best to pick up and dispose of all the infected leaves that have dropped to the ground around the plants. I also like to cut back all the hostas<
Spring Lawn Care Tips #3: Do I Need to Water My Grass in the Spring?
April showers bring May flowers. We have heard this old adage for most of our lives - and for the majority of the country, it holds true. Generally speaking, you don’t have to water your lawn in the spring. Of course, there are always those times when there is an exception to the rule. For example, if you have reseeded your lawn or resodded an area, you will have to supply additional water beyond what Mother Nature provides. Occasionally, parts of the country go through an extended drought period that can last well into spring. The picture is the current drought map that can be accessed by going to http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/ . How Much Water Should I Use? How much water to use depends on the type of grass in your lawn and the ar
Lawn Care Tips #4: Battling Broadleaf Weeds
Weeds are amazing plants. They are able to endure any harsh weather condition that occurs during spring, summer or fall and continue to grow. Winter cold does not seem to faze them, either. Unless they are a summer annual weed that dies off every fall anyway, lawn weeds will start growing again once the weather warms up. The battle against weeds seems to be an unending one. Even if you follow all the right cultural practices of mowing high, watering on a regular basis and fertilizing during the growing season, weeds still have the ability to find that one little spot where the grass may not be growing as dense as other parts of the lawn and germinate. At this point, you have a choice in dealing with the weed: • You can live with it • You can try pulling it out • You can spray it wi
Repairing Dog Damage in Your Lawn
Many people think that if they change the diet of the dog or add some magical pill to their food, the dog will not damage the turf. Feeding your dog higher quality food with low to moderate protein and salt added may decrease the damage they cause – but always check with your vet first before changing your dog's diet. Types of Dog Damage There are two types of dog damage: The first is when darker green spots appear where they have “done their business.” This is usually the result of excess nitrogen that was released in the dog's urine, causing the darker green spots to appear. Female dogs are more apt to cause this kind of damage as they usually urinate in one spot. In this situation, lawn fertilization will help mask the spots. Male dogs have a tendency to urin
Ascochyta Leaf Blight Lawn Disease
For the last several years, a minor disease has been affecting many lawns during the late spring into the early summer: • It usually occurs during the period of time when the weather switches from cool and wet to hot and humid. • Lawns have been growing well and then heat and humidity blankets the area. • Mowing during the heat of the day seems to be one of the factors that cause this disease to become active. • It mainly affects bluegrass and it is usually on lawns that were mowed too short. The lawn disease is called Ascochyta Leaf Blight. The one good thing about this disease is that it is not a crown killer and the plant will recover on its own. If you see sections of your lawn that look like the picture above, you will notice that the grass blades have turned tan fro
Japanese Beetle Alert!
In case you have not noticed, Japanese Beetles are in full feeding frenzy. If you see leaves of your plants beginning to look like lace doilies, you probably have Japanese Beetles feeding on them. They are easy to identify – bronze wing covers and a row of little tufts of white hair along their back side. If you see them, you may notice that they are often doing what nature intended them to do, procreate. They are voracious feeders and breeders. They love to feed on grape leaves, flowering shrubs, roses, rose flowers, lindens and an assortment of other trees and shrubs. The female will look for a suitable place to burrow into a lawn, lay her eggs and move on. The eggs hatch into grubs, which feed on the root system of the grass. One advantage of the dry weather is that the eggs, once l
Why Do I Need Lawn Care During a Drought?
You hired a lawn care company to help take care of your lawn this year, but are wondering why they continue coming out to put fertilizer down on a brown and dormant lawn. It is a good question to ask, and one that needs answering. First of all, it has been our experience going through previous drought periods that lawns which continued to receive regularly scheduled applications of fertilizer recovered much faster and looked better much sooner than lawns that received nothing. Once it begins raining again, or you water your lawn, it's going to be in need of food to generate new grass blades. Spring-Green generally switches to a granular fertilizer during the summertime. The granular fertilizer will remain on the ground and not be activated until it receives irrigation in some form.
Storm Damage to Your Yard & Lawn: How to Clean Up
Regardless of where you may live, at some time your property will be hit by a severe storm. It could be a blizzard, an intense thunderstorm, a wind storm or even a hurricane or tornado. Regardless of the source, these types of storms have the potential to damage your trees and shrubs. The aftermath of the storm may result in property damage, but often the result comes in the form of tree damage , including broken limbs, branches and, in some cases, entire trees ripped out of the ground by high winds. What steps do you need to take to safely clean up after the storm is over? First of all, check to make sure that none of the fallen limbs are resting on power lines. If this is the case, you need to contact your local utility company to have the branches removed. This is not a j
How to Identify & Repair Fairy Rings
Once we started to get some much needed rain in my area, I noticed that I had some Fairy Ring arcs developing in my lawn. I have had a problem with this lawn disease off and on for the last twenty years and it has not been a problem as of late, but it has definitely showed up in an entirely new spot this year. Fairy rings are dark green circles or arcs in turf caused by numerous soil inhabiting fungi. These circles or arcs can range from as small as a foot in diameter to a large as 100 feet in diameter. In some situations, the fairy ring fungi activity can result in the death of the turf grass in these circles or arcs, such as what you see in this picture. Many times mushrooms are seen growing in the arcs or circles. The rings develop as the fungi grow through the soil and thatch br
How To Deal With Patchy Grass & Soil Compaction
Below, Harold Enger, Spring-Green’s lawn care expert, responds to a question about patchy grass and soil compaction. He offers several different ways of dealing with these pesky and persistent problems. Question: “There is a spot in my back yard where the grass is patchy. I lime, fertilize, aerate. The dirt is compacted. I have no worms. Someone said to use compost. How? How do I get worms in the soil ? How do I de-compact?” Ms. Larouse, Thank you for sending in your question. The first thing I suggest you do is to take a soil sample to your local county extension service to determine the pH and nutrient levels of your soil and then add the correct materials to correct for deficiencies. There will be a fee involved, but you will receive a written report of the soil test resu
Lawn Care Tips for the Pros: Go Inside Spring-Green Lawn Care Training
Every year for about the last 15 years or so, I have geared up to conduct 17 training sessions at regional locations across the US, offering lawn care tips and working with the field staff as they get ready for another year of servicing your lawns. It may be snowing in northern Illinois, but weeds are growing in the south and customers expect us to take care of them. I will be starting my lawn care training sessions in North and South Carolina, before moving on across the south to Tulsa, OK and Lake Charles, LA. I will make a quick detour to the Seattle area as they usually don’t experience the same cold winters as the rest of the northern states. From there, I will slowly work my way across the US to the Northeast and Midwest. It all comes to a close at the end of March in Green Bay, WI.
How to Build a Backyard Skating Rink without Damaging Your Lawn
Building a backyard rink in the winter is a great way to get your family outside and having fun on the ice. But when spring rolls around, will your lawn have paid the price? To prevent long term lawn damage, we’ve put together a few tips for building a lawn-friendly ice rink. There are two options when it comes to creating a rink: Pack down the snow Use a plastic liner Although most people resort to a plastic liner (a WHITE one is essential!), we think that the foot method, although a little more time-consuming, is much
Lawn Lime Treatment: Should You Add Lime To Your Lawn?
Depending upon where you live, adding a lawn lime treatment to your lawn is as necessary as adding fertilizer or even mowing it on a regular basis. Unless the pH of the soil is determined by a soil test, the fertilizer you apply may provide little benefit to the lawn. If your soil is too acidic, meaning that the pH is below 6.5, the fertilizer is not properly utilized by the grass plant and the lawn will appear weak and have a dull green to yellow color. The soil in some areas of the US is naturally acidic, so adding lime every year is a necessity. For other parts of the country,
How Cooler Temperatures Are Affecting Lawn and Landscape
Is It Spring Yet? As is the case with most years, sometimes it will warm up early, fooling a lot of plants, including turfgrasses, to start the annual spring green-up. Only to be broadsided with an arctic blast and cooler temperatures that pushes plants back into winter dormancy. Cool-season turfgrasses like bluegrass, ryegrass and the fescues are somewhat accustomed to these weather fluctuations, but the warm-season grasses, such as Centipede, St. Augustine and Bermuda grasses can be greatly affected by a cold snap after they have been coaxed into an early spring green-up by an early warm up. Such is the case with many lawns in the warmer parts of the United States. Roland Freund, Franchise Owner in the Houston, Texas area, posted some information on his
Has Spring Finally Sprung? Tips For Your Lawn This Spring Season!
Spring has taken its sweet time to arrive for most of the U.S. If you live in the more northern states like Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan, you may be thinking that spring may never arrive since these areas still have snow. Receiving some snow at this time of year is not uncommon for these folks. Even the lawns in the warmer parts of the U.S. are greening up at a much slower rate than normal. Warm season turfgrasses such as Bermuda or Zoysia, often turn brown during the winter months and don’t begin to start growing until temperatures are consistently above 70 degrees. There have been wa
The Secrets To Winter Lawn Care Revealed
Professional landscaping experts get the frequently asked winter lawn care questions over and over again. “How often should I water my lawn in winter?” Or other varieties like: How can I keep my lawn healthy during the cold months, so it looks great in spring and summer? What are the best tools to prep my lawn before the first snowfall comes? I have this type of grass, how do I care for it during winter? So, since those are just a few of the commonly asked questions about winter lawn care, we decided we should put
Answers to Top Frequently Asked Questions about Warm Season Grass Mowing
If you’re like most homeowners, you have a few pressing questions about warm season grasses that need to be answered ASAP! Before we dive into the most commonly asked questions about your dormant grass and its best care recommendations, let’s get on the same page. First-things-first, let’s make sure we understand what warm season grasses are. Warm season grasses, as the name implies, thrive in temperatures that are consistently over 75 degrees. These warm-weather loving grasses are best used in warm regions such as the south, southeast, and southwest of the United States, where summ
Happy National Lawn Care Month – We’ve Got All The Tips!
It’s April. It’s spring. The temps are rising, the birds are chirping and it’s National Lawn Care Month! At Spring Green , we love April for all these reasons, and we want to spread our love for lawn care with you by sharing the ways lawns enhance our lives and the basic dos and don'ts of lawn care. National Lawn Care Month: 3 Ways Lawns Enhance Our Lives 1. They protect from ticks, mosquitoes, fleas and fire ants.
Are Spring-Green Lawn Care Services Safe for Pets?
A general concern that comes up every year is if the pesticides we use are safe for pets and children. The majority of the pesticide products Spring-Green uses are considered “General Use” and can be purchased and used by homeowners. Spring-Green will post every treated lawn and leave instructions to stay off the lawn until the application has dried. While the drying time is influenced by weather, in most cases, keeping pets and children off the treated area for 2 hours after the application is a good practice and recommended. After the drying time, your pets and kids can enjoy the yard
Seedheads Developing on Cool Season Grasses
Lawn-lovers may get worried when they see little seedheads covering the tops of their lawns, usually starting around the middle of May when sunlight reaches 12 hours a day. No need to worry. It is a natural process for grass to produce seed, and fertilization and proper mowing practices will help keep the lawn healthy. The seedheads are forming on tiny stalks that the grass plant sends up. Depending on its abundance, the seedheads can make the lawn look pale. Once the stalks are mowed, which don’t cut as easily as grass blades, they may shred and give the lawn an almost white appearance. Seedhead development usually occurs on cool season grasses such as Perennial Ryegrass, Kentucky
Stay Sharp: How To Keep Your Lawn Mower Blade Working Its Best
Have you ever pondered the sharpness of your lawn mower? If so, you are not alone in your consideration of the sharpness of your mower. You can follow all the mowing tips and mowing best practices available for consumption, but with a dull blade, you won’t get too far. The pros at Spring-Green , your neighborhood lawn care professionals, are here with the tips you need to keep your mower blade sharp and your lawn looking sharp! Guide To Keeping Your Lawn Mower Blades Sharp Does a sharp mower blade really matter? Compare the s
The Luck of the Irish? All About Clover in Your Lawn
St. Patrick’s Day is upon us! It’s the time of year where Irish heritage is celebrated and symbols like four-leaf clovers, rainbows and gold are abundant. But for many homeowners, finding clovers in the lawn isn't a joyous way to recognize the holiday. Instead, this pesky weed can leave you confused and frustrated. As we embark on this Irish holiday, let’s unpack the truth about the clover and its effect on your lawn. <
Everything to Know About Thatch
Lawn thatch is a term you may have heard thrown around, or maybe you’ve even seen it up close a few times, but how much do you truly know about it? The lawn care pros at Spring-Green have compiled a guide to help you get schooled up on thatch. Everything you need to know has been gathered up in this easy-to-read format so you can get your overview quickly and then return to your busy life. Of course, we’re here for you to help you with
What to Know When Renovating Your Lawn
Many savvy homeowners are taking their lawncare into their own hands. Whether you’re renovating your yard to sale your home or want a healthier, greener lawn, Spring-Green has the knowledge you need to make it a success. From timing to tips to weed control, we’ll guide you through the details. What are the benefits of renovating my lawn? By renovating your lawn, you are not only increasing your property value, but reducing the risk of soil erosion, groundwater impact, and helping improve the environment. For many of us today, being outside is the perfect vacation from indoors. Enjoy it more in a newly renovated yard. When should I renovate my lawn? Timing matters. I
Tips To Fix Your Lawn During A Summer Drought
It’s almost inevitable. Summer arrives with scorching temps and lots of rain. But then the rain doesn’t always stay and drought conditions kick in. Lawn care becomes more complicated in an instant. Drought is more of a problem than ever before and worse in specific areas of the United States than others. Statistics estimate that 53 million people are living in drought-affected areas worldwide. More than 93 percent of the land area in Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico is in some level of drought while 69 percent of Utah is in severe drought